The invention generally relates to a locking system for providing mechanical joining of floorboards. More specifically, the invention concerns an improvement of a locking system of the type described and shown in WO 94/26999. The invention also relates to a floorboard provided with such a locking system. According to one more aspect of the invention, a floorboard with different designs of the locking system on long side and short side is provided.
The invention is particularly suited for mechanical joining of thin floating floorboards, such as laminate and parquet flooring, and therefore the following description of prior art and the objects and features of the invention will be directed to this field of application, in particular rectangular floorboards that are joined on long sides as well as short sides. The features distinguishing the invention concern in the first place parts of the locking system which are related to horizontal locking transversely of the joint edges of the boards. In practice, floorboards will be manufactured according to the inventive principles of also having locking means for mutual vertical locking of the boards.
WO 94/26999 discloses a locking system for mechanical joining of building boards, especially floorboards. A mechanical locking system permits locking together of the boards both perpendicular to and in parallel with the principal plane of the boards on long sides as well as short sides. Methods for making such floorboards are described in SE 9604484-7 and SE 9604483-9. The principles of designing and laying the floorboards as well as the methods for making the same that are described in the above three documents are applicable also to the present invention, and therefore the contents of these documents are incorporated by reference in present description.
With a view to facilitating the understanding and description of the present invention as well as the understanding of the problems behind the invention, now follows with reference to FIGS. 1-3 a brief description of floorboards according to WO 94/26999. This description of prior art should in applicable parts be considered to apply also to the following description of embodiments of the present invention.
A floorboard 1 of known design is shown from below and from above in FIGS. 3a and 3b, respectively. The board is rectangular and has a top side 2, an underside 3, two opposite long sides 4a, 4b which form joint edges, and two opposite short sides 5a, 5b which form joint edges.
Both the long sides 4a, 4b and the short sides 5a, 5b can be joined mechanically without any glue in the direction D2 in FIG. 1c. To this end, the board 1 has a planar strip 6 which is mounted at the factory and which extends horizontally from one long side 4a, the strip extending along the entire long side 4a and being made of a flexible, resilient aluminium sheet. The strip 6 can be mechanically fixed according to the illustrated embodiment, or fixed by means of glue or in some other fashion. Other strip materials can be used, such as sheet of some other metal, and aluminium or plastic sections. Alternatively, the strip 6 can be integrally formed with the board 1, for instance by some suitable working of the body of the board 1. The strip, however, is always integrated with the board 1, i.e. it is not mounted on the board 1 in connection with laying. The width of the strip 6 can be about 30 mm and its thickness about 0.5 mm. A similar, although shorter strip 6xe2x80x2 is arranged also along one short side 5a of the board 1. The edge side of the strip 4 facing away from the joint edge 4a is formed with a locking element 8 extending along the entire strip 6. The locking element 8 has an active locking surface 10 facing the joint edge 4a and having a height of e.g. 0.5 mm. In connection with laying, the locking element 8 cooperates with a locking groove 14, which is formed in the underside 3 of the opposite long side 4b of an adjacent board 1xe2x80x2. The short side strip 6xe2x80x2 is provided with a corresponding locking element 8xe2x80x2, and the opposite short side 5b has a corresponding locking groove 14xe2x80x2.
For mechanical joining of both long sides and short sides also in the vertical direction (direction D1 in FIG. 1c), the board 1 is further along its one long side 4a and its one short side 5a formed with a laterally open recess 16. The recess 16 is defined downwards by the associated strip 6, 6xe2x80x2 . At the opposite edges 4b and 5b there is an upper recess 18 defining a locking tongue 20 (see FIG. 2a) cooperating with the recess 16 to form a tongue-and-groove joint.
FIGS. 1a-1c show how two such boards 1, 1xe2x80x2 can be joined by downwards angling. FIGS. 2a-2c show how the boards 1, 1xe2x80x2 can instead be joined by snap action. The long sides 4a, 4b can be joined by both methods whereas the short sides 5a, 5bxe2x80x94after laying of the first rowxe2x80x94are normally joined after joining of the long sides and merely by snap action. When a new board 1xe2x80x2 and a previously laid board 1 are to be joined along their long sides according to FIGS. 1a-1c, the long side 4b of the new board 1xe2x80x2 is pressed against the long side 4a of the previously laid board 1 according to FIG. 1a, so that the locking tongue 20 is inserted into the recess 16. The board 1xe2x80x2 is then angled downwards to the subfloor 12 according to FIG. 1b. Now the locking tongue 20 completely enters the recess 16 while at the same time the locking element 8 of the strip 6 enters the locking groove 14. During this downwards angling, the upper part of the locking element 8 can be active and accomplish a guiding of the new board 1xe2x80x2 towards the previously laid board 1. in the joined state according to FIG. 1c, the boards 1, 1xe2x80x2 are locked in both D1 direction and D2 direction, but may be displaced relative to each other in the longitudinal direction of the joint.
FIGS. 2a-2c illustrate how also the short sides 5a and 5b of the boards 1, 1xe2x80x2 can be mechanically joined in both D1 and D2 direction by the new board 1xe2x80x2 being moved essentially horizontally towards the previously laid board 1. This can be carried out after the long side 4b of the new board 1xe2x80x2 has been joined as described above. In the first step in FIG. 2a, bevelled surfaces adjacent to the recess 16 and the locking tongue 20 cooperate so that the strip 6xe2x80x2 is forced downwards as a direct consequence of the joining of the short sides 5a, 5b. During the final joining, the strip 6xe2x80x2 snaps upwards as the locking element 8xe2x80x2 enters the locking groove 14xe2x80x2. By repeating the operations shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the entire floor can be laid without glue and along all joint edges. Thus, prior-art floorboards of the above-mentioned type are joined mechanically by, as a rule, first being angled downwards on the long side, and when the long side is locked, the short sides are snapped together by horizontal displacement along the long side. The boards 1, 1xe2x80x2 can be taken up again in reverse order, without the joint being damaged, and be-laid once more.
For optimal function, it should be possible for the boards, after being joined, along their long sides to take a position where there is a possibility of a small play between the locking surface 10 and the locking groove 14. For a more detailed description of this play, reference is made to WO 94/26999.
In addition to the disclosure of the above-mentioned patent specifications, Norske Skog Flooring AS (licensee of Vxc3xa4linge Aluminium AB) introduced a laminate flooring with a mechanical joining system according to WO 94/29699 in January 1996 in connection with the Domotex fair in Hannover, Germany. This laminate flooring marketed under the trademark Alloc(copyright), is 7.6 mm thick, has a 0.6 mm aluminium strip 6 which is mechanically fixed to the tongue side and the active locking surface 10 of the locking element 8 has an inclination of about 70xc2x0-80xc2x0 to the plane of the board. The joint edges are impregnated with wax and the underside is provided with underlay board which is mounted at the factory. The vertical joint is designed as a modified tongue-and-groove joint. The strips 6, 6xe2x80x2 on long side and short side are largely identical, but slightly bent upwards to different degrees on long side and short side. The inclination of the active locking surface varies between long side and short side. The distance of the locking groove 14 from the joint edge, however, is somewhat smaller on the short side than on the long side. The boards are made with a nominal play on the long side which is about 0.05-0.10 mm. This enables displacement of the long sides and bridges width tolerances of the boards. Boards of this brand have been manufactured and sold with zero play on the short sides, which is possible since the short sides need not be displaced in connection with the locking which is effected by snap action. Boards of this brand have also been made with more bevelled portions on the short side to facilitate snapping in according to FIGS. 2a-c above. It is thus known that the mechanical locking system can be designed in various ways and that long side and short side can be of different design.
WO 97/47834 (Unilin) discloses a mechanical joining system which is essentially based on the above known principles. In the corresponding product which this applicant began to market in the latter part of 1997, biasing between the boards is strived for. This leads to high friction and difficulties in angling together and displacing the boards. This document also shows that the mechanical locking on the short side can be designed in a manner different from the long side. In the described embodiments, the strip is integrated with the body of the board, i.e. made in one piece with and of the same material as the body of the board.
Although the flooring according to WO 94/26999 and the flooring marketed under the trademark Alloc(copyright) have great advantages compared with traditional, glued floorings, further improvements are desirable.
Mechanical joints are very suitable for joining not only laminate floorings, but also wood floorings and composite floorings. Such floorboards may consist of a large number of different materials in the surface, the core and the rear side, and as described above these materials can also be included in the strip of the joining system, the locking element on the strip, fixing surfaces, vertical joints etc. This solution involving an integrated strip, however, leads to costs in the form of waste when the mechanical joint is being made. Alternatively, special materials, such as the aluminium strip 6 above, can be glued or mechanically fixed to the floorboard to be included as components in the joining system. Different joint designs affect the costs to a considerable extent.
A strip made of the same material as the body of the board and formed by working of the body of the board can in some applications be less expensive than an aluminium strip, especially for floorboards in lower price ranges. Aluminium, however, is more advantageous in respect of flexibility, resilience and displaceability as well as accuracy in the positioning of the locking element. Aluminium also affords the possibility of making a stronger locking element. If the same strength is to be achieved with a locking element of wood fibre, it must be wide with a large shearing surface, which results in a large amount of waste material in manufacture, or it must be reinforced with a binder. Depending on the size of the boards, working of, for instance, 10 mm of a joint edge may result in six times higher cost of waste per m2 of floor surface along the long sides compared with the short sides.
In addition to the above problems relating to undesirable waste of material, the present invention is based on the insight that the long sides and short sides can be optimised with regard to the specific locking functions that should be present in these joint edges.
As described above, locking of the long side is, as a rule, carried out by downwards angling. Also a small degree of bending down of the strip during locking can take place, as will be described in more detail below. Thanks to this downwards bending together with an inclination of the locking element, the boards can be angled down and up again with very tight joint edges. The locking element along the long sides should also have a high guiding capability so that the long side of a new board in connection with downwards angling is pushed towards the joint edge of the previously laid board. The locking element should have a large guiding part. For optimal function, the boards should along their long sides, after being joined, be able to take a mutual position transversely of the joint edges where there is a small play between locking element and locking groove.
On the other hand, locking of the short side is carried out by the long-side being displaced so that the strip of the short side can be bent down and snap into the locking groove. Thus the short side must have means which accomplish downwards bending of the strip in connection with lateral displacement. The strength requirement is also higher on the short side. Guiding and displaceability are less important.
Summing up, there is a great need for providing a mechanical joint of the above type at a low cost and with optimal locking functions at each joint edge. It is not possible to achieve a low cost with prior-art solutions without also lowering the requirements as to strength and/or laying function. An object of the invention is to provide solutions which aim at lowering the cost with maintained strength and function. According to the invention, these and other objects are achieved by a locking system and a floorboard having the features as defined in independent claims 1, 18, 23 and 25. Preferred embodiments are stated in the respective dependent claims.
According to a first aspect of the invention (claim 1), a locking system for mechanical joining of floorboards is thus provided, where immediately juxtaposed upper parts of two adjacent joint edges of two joined floorboards together define a joint plane perpendicular to the principal plane of the floor boards. To obtain a joining of the two joint edges perpendicular to the joint plane, the locking system comprises in a manner known per se a locking groove which is formed in the underside of and extends in parallel with the first joint edge at a distance from the joint plane, and a portion projecting from the lower part of the second joint edge and below the first joint edge and integrated with a body of the board, said projecting portion supporting at a distance from the joint plane a locking element cooperating with the locking groove and thus positioned entirely outside the joint plane seen from the side of the second joint edge, said projecting portion having a different composition of materials compared with the body of the board. The inventive locking system is characterised in that the projecting portion presents at least two horizontally juxtaposed parts, which differ from each other at least in respect of the parameters material composition and material properties.
In a first embodiment of the first aspect of the invention, said at least two parts of the projecting portion are located at different distances from the joint plane. In particular, they may comprise an inner part closest to the joint plane and an outer part at a distance from the joint plane. The inner part and the outer part are preferably, but not necessarily, of equal length in the joint direction. In this first aspect of the invention, a material other than that included in the body is thus included in the joining system, and in particular the outer part can be at least partially formed of a separate strip which is made of a material other than that of the body of the board and which is integrally connected with the board by being factory-mounted. The inner part can be formed at least partially of a worked part of the body of the board and partially of part of said separate strip. The separate strip can be attached to such a worked part of the board body. The strip can be located entirely outside said joint plane, but can also intersect the joint plane and extend under the joint edge to be attached to the body also inside the joint plane.
This embodiment of the invention thus provides a kind of combination strip in terms of material, for example a projecting portion comprising an inner part with the material combination wood fibre/rear laminate/aluminium, and an outer part of aluminium sheet.
It is also possible to make the projecting part from three parts which are different in terms of material: an inner part closest to the joint plane, a central part and an outer part furthest away from the joint plane. The inner part and the outer part can possibly be equal in terms of material.
The portion projecting outside the joint plane need not necessarily be continuous or unbroken along the joint edge. A conceivable variant is that the projecting portion has a plurality of separate sections distributed along the joint. edge. As an example, this can be accomplished by means of a separate strip with a continuous inner part and a toothed outer part, said strip being attachable to a part of the board body, said part being worked outside the joint plane.
In an alternative embodiment of the first aspect of the invention, said at least two parts, which differ in respect of at least one of the parameters material composition and material properties, are instead juxtaposed seen in the direction parallel with the joint edges. For example, there may be a plurality of strip types on one and the same side, where each strip type is optimised for a special function, such as strength and guiding in connection with laying. As an example, the strips can be made of different aluminium alloys and/or of aluminium having different states (for instance, as a result of different types of heat treatment).
According to a second aspect of the invention (claim 18), a locking system for mechanical joining of floorboards is provided. In this second aspect of the invention, the projecting portion is instead formed in one piece with the body of the board and thus has the same material composition as the body of the board. This second aspect of the invention is characterised in that the projecting portion, as a direct consequence of machining of its upper side, presents at least two horizontally juxtaposed parts, which differ from each other in respect of at least one of the parameters material composition and material properties.
The inventive principle of dividing the projecting portion into several parts which differ from each other in terms of material and/or material properties thus is applicable also to the prior-art xe2x80x9cwood fibre stripxe2x80x9d.
In the same manner as described above for the first aspect of the invention, these two parts can be located at different distances from the joint plane, and especially there may be three or more parts with different material composition and/or material properties. Optionally, two such parts can be equal in respect of said parameters, but they may differ from a third.
In one embodiment, said two parts may comprise an inner part closest to the joint plane and an outer part at a distance from the joint plane. There may be further parts outside the outer part. Specifically, an outer part can be formed of fewer materials than an inner part. For instance, the inner part may consist of wood fibre and rear laminate, whereas the outer part, by machining from above, consists of rear laminate only. In one embodiment, the projecting portion may comprisexe2x80x94seen from the joint plane outwardsxe2x80x94an inner part, an outer part and, outside the outer part, a locking element supported by the outer part. The locking element may differ from both inner and outer part in respect of said material parameters.
The projecting portion may consist of three laminated layers, and therefore it is possible, by working from above, to provide a locking system which, counted from the top, has a relatively soft upper guiding part which need not have any particular strength, a harder central part which forms a strong active locking surface and absorbs shear forces in the locking element, and a lower part which is connected with the rest of the projecting portion and which can be thin, strong and resilient.
Laminated embodiments can be suitable in such floorboards where the body of the board consists of, for instance, plywood or particle board with several layers. Corresponding layers can be found in the walls of the locking groove. For plywood, the material properties can be varied by changing the direction of fibres in the layers. For particle board, the material properties can be varied by using different chip dimensions and/or a binder in the different layers. The board body can generally consist of layers of different plastic materials.
In the definition of the invention, the term xe2x80x9cprojecting portionxe2x80x9d relates to the part or parts of the board projecting outside the joint plane and having a function in the locking system in respect of supporting of locking element, strength, flexibility etc.
An underlay of underlay board, foam, felt or the like can, for instance, be mounted even in the manufacture of the boards on the underside thereof. The underlay can cover the underside up to the locking element, so that the joint between the underlays will be offset relative to the joint plane F. Although such an underlay is positioned outside the joint plane, it should thus not be considered to be included in the definition of the projecting portion in the appended claims.
In the aspect of the invention which relates to embodiments with a projecting portion of the same material as the body of the board, any thin material layers which remain after working from above should in the same manner not be considered to be included in the xe2x80x9cprojecting portionxe2x80x9d in the cases where such layers do not contribute to the locking function in respect of strength, flexibility, etc. The same discussion applies to thin glue layers, binders, chemicals, etc. which are applied, for instance, to improve moisture proofing and strength.
According to a third aspect of the invention (claim 23) there is provided a floorboard presenting a locking system according to the first aspect or the second aspect of the invention as defined above. Several possibilities of combining prior-art separate strips, prior-art wood fibre strips and xe2x80x9ccombination stripsxe2x80x9d according to the invention are available. These possibilities can be used optionally on long side and short side.
For the above aspects, the projecting portion of a given joint edge, for instance a long side, has at least two parts with different material composition and/or material properties. For optimisation of a floorboard, such a difference in materials and/or material properties, however, may be considered to exist between the long sides and short sides of the board instead of within one and the same joint edge.
According to a fourth aspect of the invention (claim 25), a rectangular floorboard is thus provided, comprising a body and first and second locking means integrated with the body and adapted to provide a mechanical joining of adjacent joint edges of such floorboards along long sides and short sides, respectively, of the boards in a direction perpendicular to the respective joint edges and in parallel with the principal plane of the floorboards. According to this aspect of the invention, the floorboard is characterised in that said first and second locking means differ in respect of at least one of the parameters material composition and material properties. Preferably, said first and second locking means each comprise on the one hand a portion which projects from a joint edge and which at a distance from the joint edge supports a locking element and, on the other hand, a locking groove, which is formed in the underside of the body at an opposite joint edge for engaging such a locking element of an adjacent board. At least one of said locking means on the long side and the short side may comprise a separate element which is integrally fixed to the body of the board at the factory and is made of a material other than that included in the body of the board. The other locking means may comprise an element which is formed in one piece with the body of the board.
Within the scope of the fourth aspect of the invention, there are several possibilities of combination. For example, it is possible to select an aluminium strip for the long side and a machined wood fibre strip for the short side or vice versa. Another example is that for the short side or the long side a xe2x80x9ccombination stripxe2x80x9d according to the first and the second aspect of the invention is selected, and for the other side a xe2x80x9cpurexe2x80x9d aluminium strip or a xe2x80x9cpurexe2x80x9d worked wood fibre strip is selected.
The above problem of undesirable costs of material is solved according to the invention by the projecting portion being made of different materials and/or material combinations and thus specially adaptable to the selected materials in the floorboard and the function and strength requirements that apply to the specific floorboard and that are specific for long side and short side. This advantage of the invention will be evident from the following description.
Since different requirements are placed on the long side and the short side and also the cost of waste differs, improvements can also be achieved by the long side and the short side being made of different materials or combinations of materials. In some applications, the long side can have, for instance, an aluminium strip with high guiding capability and low friction whereas the short side can have a wood fibre strip. In other applications, the opposite is advantageous.
In some applications, there may also be a need for different types of strip on the same side. The side may consist of, for instance, a plurality of different strips which are made of different aluminium alloys, have different thicknesses etc. and in which certain parts are intended to achieve high strength and others are intended to be used for guiding.
Different aspects of the invention will now be described in more detail by way of examples with reference to the accompanying drawings. The parts of the inventive board which are equivalent to those of the prior-art board in FIGS. 1-3 are provided with the same reference numerals.